Deerfield Management, led by James E. Flynn, revealed in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission that it has upped its stake in OvaScience Inc (NASDAQ:OVAS) to 1.8 million shares from 605,600 shares held at the end of the fourth quarter of 2013. The current passive stake amasses 7.6% of the company’s common stock.
OvaScience Inc (NASDAQ:OVAS) is a global life sciences company that discovers, develops and commercializes new fertility treatments.
Recently, OvaScience Inc (NASDAQ:OVAS) conducted a public offering of 5.0 million shares of common stock at a price of $10.00 per share. The company will use the net proceed from the offering to fund OvaPrimeSM preclinical studies and the anticipated 2015 international launch, expand the AUGMENTSM international launch, establish an international subsidiary and for other general corporate purposes.
The underwriters of the public offering were granted a 30-day option to purchase up to an additional 750,000 shares of common stock of the company.
Last month, OvaScience posted its results for the fourth quarter and the fiscal year 2013. The net loss was 11.0 million, versus a net loss of $4.2 million in the fourth quarter of 2012. For the full year, the net loss amounted to $29.0 million, compared to $13.5 million in the previous year. The increase of the loss was due to a one-time charge of $4.7 million for a technology access fee, with respect to the company’s collaboration with Intrexon, and also due to the high personnel costs, which includes stock-based compensation.
In addition, during the last year, OvaScience Inc (NASDAQ:OVAS) issued $2.5 million of common stock to Intrexon under the collaboration agreement and the remainder will be paid in December 2014. There was also a rise in the research and development expense to $15.8 million in 2013, from $6.3 million in 2012.
Hal Mintz’s Sabby Capital is another hedge fund that is bullish on OvaScience Inc, which holds 152,336 shares, worth $1.4 million.
Last week, Christoph Westphal and Richard Aldrich, director at OvaScience Inc, purchased 100,000 shares. Michelle Dipp, President & CEO and Longwood Fund, L.p., a large shareholder of the company also purchased 100,000 shares each of OvaScience. All three insiders purchased the securities at the public offering price of $10.00 per share.
Deerfield Management focuses on healthcare companies and specializes in funding R&D, corporate transitions, managing hostile takeovers and financial advisory services.
Last month, Deerfield Management boosted its position in Auspex Pharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ:ASPX), by buying 700,000 shares and revealed owning 1.9 million shares of the company. The fund also added 350,000 shares of Cara Therapeutics Inc. (NASDAQ:CARA). The fund also added KaloBios Pharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ:KBIO) to its equity portfolio, the previous month, and revealed holding 3.18 million shares of the company.
Disclosure: none
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